Looking for a room or flat to rent in Poland - discrimination against age

I was planning to come to Poland to learn the language, so I started to try to arrange for a room, maybe a "kawalerka", before I land in the country.

I found a host at Poznan, "sofa academic" who refused to rent me a room just because I'm over thirty. Is this common practice in Poland? in other countries, I could take them to the court for discrimination.

I also had problems with another website: "pepe housing" - they are not reliable people at all. The "hosts" asked me a lot of questions, then declined to rent me a room.

That is ridiculous. You cannot take someone to the court because he/she doesn't want to share an apartment with you (for age, sex, or whatever reason). Antidiscriminatory laws apply to the provision of goods and services, access to employment, education, promotion, etc - not to the case you mentioned.

There might have been other issues, not merely age. This is frequently quite difficult to prove, particularly without a reliable witness, willing to swear in court. I notice for instance from your handle (shmuel) that this could have been the name under which you decided to rent your room, am I correct? There is definitely a certain degree of latent (sometimes not so latent) anti-Jewish bias in Poland, most especially among older or much older people, and so you may have run into one of those, I fear.

Apart from the obvious, afraid you're just plain out of luck. Things are hardly uniform throughout much of the world, and so best here to simply bite the bullet and try to look for another flat.

I have experience with this sort of problem, not only abroad, but right here in New York as well. Invariably, the "plaintiff", you in this case, hasn't got a leg to stand on, as private transactions are not subject to others' rules, but remain the whim of the lessor. The lessee doesn't stand a snowball's chance in hell. Particularly if you're not even a citizen. Perhaps the Brazilian Consulate will intervene, but don't bet on it.

YOU are ridiculous. Perhaps, you don't understand English well. I don't want to take someone into the court because they don't want to share apartment with me. I don't want to share with no body, in no way - understand?

In first world countries, someone can not refuse to rent on basis of age, color of skin, etc. Of course, I know very well they don't want to rent to me because of my Jewish origin, as Lyzko pointed. So, they say excuses like that: "I have rented to someone else before", "I rent only for students", "I don't rent for people over 30", "I don't know if tenant will remain" - and so on.

In Poland, client is not king. People are narrowed mind, most of Poles seem to be.

Now, as I have Polish citizenship, I can chose a better country to live in. Who needs Poland? I wanted to be your friend, learn the language, but they don't want to be my friends. I am "the Jew".

Please calm yourself and maintain a modicum of decorum! Clearly, be it in New York, Poznan, Berlin, what have you, folks'll stand behind their rights as private citizens in order to weed out whom they wish, often based solely on personal prejudice...which, I'm sad to report, they are perfectly within their rights to do, regardless of how unfair and disgusting it truly is.

If it's not a public company, housing or funded by the state, as I already said, you're plain out of luck.

Why would anyone wanted to have anything to do with you? You're a rude, obnoxious person. What benefit would you be to the country, you don't know the lingo, hell you are even unable to rent a place for yourself.

I hate to agree with my nemesis here, but the bare minimum of respect required as a foreigner in ANY country, is at least to learn the basics of the local lingo.

Wouldn't you, as a Brazilian, in YOUR country expect conversely that a visitor from Poland, for example, at least make a polite attempt to learn some of the language of your country, even if only some courtesy phrases?

You are just a stupid troll. I can track my roots in Poland back to 300 years ago. If I have Polish citizenship, there is a reason for that. Polish government is not giving passports to anyone as you said.

Lyzko - I see myself as a Pole : Ja jestem Polakiem.

Some people refuse to rent me a room, even a room, but they prefer to rent to some Muhammad from middle east, like ilegal immigrants. And I should keep calm. OK. lol... It was my fault, sory.

people refuse to rent me a room, even a room, but they prefer to rent to some Muhammad from middle east, like ilegal immigrants

There are no illegal immigrants to speak of in Poland (because of the very weak social safety net).

Private Polish landlords traditionally prefer to rent to non-citizens because, if there are problems, it's easier to kick them out. A person with Polish citizenship represents a big risk as it can be very difficult to get rid of them, even if they stop paying rent and/or are wrecking the apartment.

The idea of a "student" being over 30 years old is not.... an idea in Polish culture. After 26 you're no longer a student (unless you're a doctoral student).

Try a regular for profit landlord and you should have no trouble. Act your age in Poland (which means don't try to hang around with students)

Envy is scarcely the province of the Poles, envy! In France, I was told that if someone in a modest suburb brazenly flashes a brand new ostentatious automobile before the neighbors as if to show off, "I've made it!", that someone might expect to find scratches in the chrome, dirty looks from certain people, and perhaps even a gentle scolding from an irked fellow citizen on the evils of trying to make oneself look "better":-)

I found a host at Poznan, "sofa academic" who refused to rent me a room just because I'm over thirty. Is this common practice in Poland?

No, it isn't.

Your best bet is to look at the rental ads on Gumtree etc. Make sure you tick the box to exclude agents and also check each phone number on google (some advertisers are letting agents pretending not to be).